1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, in general, to fire escape apparatus and, more specifically, to vehicle mounting fire escape apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Modern fire departments utilize a variety of methods and equipment to fight fires and to rescue people from burning buildings. Besides the conventional ladders and jump nets, it is common to utilize a truck mounted extensible boom carrying a passenger basket at an upper end. This device enables a fireman located within the basket to be raised several stories above the ground to either direct water onto the fire from a high vantage point or to rescue people trapped several stories above the ground.
While the extensible boom has provided versatility for fighting fires and rescuing people from burning buildings, it is not without its drawbacks. Typically, the passenger basket mounted on the end of the extensible boom is sized to hold only two people. Thus, a fire fighter in the basket can only resuce one person at a time from a burning building. In such a rescue attempt, the boom must be raised several stories above the ground and then retracted to deposit a person taken from the building safely on the ground. The boom must be extended again to rescue another person.
As can be seen, this is extremely time consuming since only one person at a time can be rescued. Thus despite the advantages provided by this type of fire fighting equipment, many people needlessly die each year in burning buildings since they cannot be safely removed from the building in time or they are afraid to jump into safety nets or use long extension ladders.
In an attempt to overcome this deficiency and enable the maximum possible number of people to be safely removed from a burning building in the shortest amount of time, fire fighting vehicles have been provided with an escape chute which can be raised several stories above the ground to provide a convenient escape path for people to the ground. This type of equipment clearly has the advantage than many people can be sliding down the chute at the same time.
Such chutes are typically mounted on a vehicle and are constructed of several interconnecting sections which, when assembled, can be raised or pivoted as desired. However, such escape chute requires a vehicle dedicated for use of the escape chute vehicle only increases congestion at the scene of a fire.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a fire escape chute apparatus which overcomes the problems encountered previously devised apparatus for rescuing people from buring buildings. It would also be desirable to provide a fire escape chute apparatus which enables many people to be safely removed from a building in the shortest amount of time possible. Finally, it would be desirable to provide a fire escape chute apparatus which does not require a specialized fire fighting vehicle for its use.